A Cornish garden

[AndyC]

What a tease, I hope you weren't expecting something exotic. I only took possession of the house in Falmouth five weeks ago so the garden is still just a blank canvas as far as I'm concerned.
The back garden slopes away from the house towards the south west so gets plenty of sun across the right hand side and most of the lawned area. The large ugly tree at the bottom has a preservation order on it for some unknown reason (hope it gets struck by lightening and burns to the ground). There are a few shrubs that I'll keep, the Philadelphus and Sorbaria to the right of the picture hide the compost heap. There are also a few Rhododendrons and Camellias that will stay put for now. The bed in from of the sun room was already there but full of weeds, in particular, large numbers of self seeded Carex pendula, Uhg! The Cornish hedges that surround the property are full of brambles and bind weed, tally ho with the glyphosate. I will be putting a greenhouse in front of the shed in the autumn. View down the left hand side of the house.
I'd like to turn much of the back lawned area (about 80ft x 80ft) into island beds but haven't got any talent for garden design at all so ideas welcome.

[kGarden]

There are a few shrubs that I'll keep

I thought they looked like Woolworth's-Choice ...

T... hide the compost heap

Ah! Fair point.

I'd like to turn much of the back lawned area (about 80ft x 80ft) into island beds but haven't got any talent for garden design at all so ideas welcome.

I just hired a a JCB and "dug" the whole area:







... then marked out some "paths" with the hose and pots-at-plant-locations:




End of May 2012


October 2012


September 2014

But no idea if that is a "welcome idea"? :mrgreen:

[charlie]

Great stuff Andy, I love a project, especially one somebody else is going to be doing all the work!
Look forward to seeing the progress

[AndyC]

I just hired a JCB and "dug" the whole area:

Thanks, that's not a bad idea. I can't get a JCB that size into the garden but a mini-digger is a possibility. I need to dig some trenches for root barrier as well so it will save me quite some back ache.

[kGarden]

I need to dig some trenches for root barrier as well so it will save me quite some back ache.

I did that, after a fashion (used some polycarbonate boards I had left over from something else) in the trench in right-of-picture



My soil is pretty grim, heavy clay, and topsoil layer not very "thick", so with JCB/digger I double-dug the area - which is a bit different to the Allotment Garden approach of using a barrow to take the first trench contents to the far end of the plot, and then turning each strip in turn.

Pay attention because its very complicated:

1. Strip off all the topsoil
2. excavate and mix up and aerate the subsoil
3. Put the topsoil back

:)

All joking apart, it also becomes very easy to spread compost / manure at the same time, and incorporate it if you want to (although a mini-tractor PTO-powered rotavator is a good tool for that job). I also ran some land-drains in (perforated pipe, which comes on a roll; lay that in the bottom of a trench and cover with some gravel). Run it to a ditch, or even a soakaway (if you make a soakaway I recommend sinking a large tub of some sort into it, with some decent holes in the bottom, so you can put a pump in there if ever the need arises Good use for an old wheely-bin)

And I also ran some irrigation pipe in - 32mm Alkathene pipe with taps every <50M all around the garden

I've normally had some other odd-jobs that have awaited the JCB-project. Trench for a new Phone / Power / Water / etc. cable. Power to the Greenhouse. Widen the drive. Get a Tree stump / Leylandii <spit> hedge out ... Trench for a new hedge is an easy-to-do-thing too.

[charlie]

I think you and my son would get on - its his tool of choice for gardening as well ! :)